Let's Have a Talk
by Cronomon
Summary: Sogyo no Kotowari was always a peaceful zanpakuto. So why'd they betray him?


Let's Have a Talk

Jushiro Ukitake always took good care of his zanpakuto. Every day he made sure to wash it, to polish it, to put it in a safe place whenever he went out for a stroll around the garden. As a respected captain, he was rarely selected to go on missions, and as such he rarely released his zanpakuto. Having met his zanpakuto a very long time ago, and upon realizing that they were only children, he'd assumed that he'd been doing them a favor by not releasing them. For one thing, he himself hated to fight, and he assumed that Sogyo no Kotowari hated to as well. For another, they were only kids, and probably didn't like to fight that much. But no matter what, he always took care of them. He loved them, and he knew that they loved him back.

Or, at least, that was what he had thought.

When he'd first heard of the zanpakuto rebelling, he had immediately tried to contact Sogyo no Kotowari, knowing, hoping, that they wouldn't have gone against them. And then, to his horror, they didn't reply. He could feel nothing, no reiatsu radiating from his sword, and he had been unable to release it. That was when he had realized that his own zanpakuto, the playful young twins who had always managed to protect him in battle, had betrayed him.

At first he'd felt anger, wondering how or why in the world they would leave him. Hadn't he taken good care of them? They'd admitted that he had been an excellent wielder multiple times, and that they were happy to be his zanpakuto. So why had they still left? But his anger was short-lived, and was quickly washed away by sorrow and guilt. Perhaps he hadn't been a very good wielder, or rather, a very good friend. His visits, which had been plentiful when he'd first received his zanpakuto, had dwindled over time, to the point where he never even bothered to think about when was the next time he'd speak to them. Perhaps he'd been wrong when he thought that they didn't enjoy fighting that much. Lately, he hadn't been in any battles. Maybe battles were the only things that brought excitement to them, and he had always gone out of his way to make sure he wouldn't have to fight. Perhaps they did have a good reason to leave him.

But to betray… that sounded so unlike the twins he knew. That night, Kyoraku had approached the man called Muramasa and asked where the Head-Captain was. Muramasa had replied saying that Yamamoto was sealed, locked away in a different dimension by three of the most powerful zanpakuto around. Minazuki, Katen Kyokotsu, and… Sogyo no Kotowari. And then, when he'd entered the Fourth Squad Barracks the following day to speak to Unohana, he had been shocked to see so many injured, all by the zanpakuto. Jushiro felt it impossible to believe that the twins would do such things. They might be somewhat ignorant and playful, but they did have their own rules and their own code of honor. They would never do something like seal away the Head-Captain or attack innocent Shinigami.

And so, he had come to the conclusion that Muramasa must have brainwashed them or something along those lines. He had somehow convinced the zanpakuto that it was their wielders doing something wrong, and that they should all get back at them. Although when he'd suggested this to Kyoraku and Unohana, they had simply shook their heads and told him to think of all the other possibilities. Jushiro sighed as he felt a slight twinge of annoyance at his two closest friends.

Kyoraku had tipped his straw hat to hide his eyes, and muttered, "It's an interesting idea, but…"

Unohana nodded. "Don't you think it's a little unlikely? Surely Muramasa can't be strong enough to brainwash almost every captain and lieutenant's zanpakuto."

"He might," Jushiro insisted. "We don't know exactly how strong he is."

"Jushiro…" Both his friends had said in a negative tone.

"Just hear me out. If there's one thing I know about Sogyo no Kotowari, it's that they wouldn't do such horrible things. They're being forced, or tricked into thinking that they're doing the right thing. Think about it, is it really like Katen Kyokotsu or Minazuki to be doing things like this?"

Kyoraku took off his hat and scratched his head thoughtfully. "Well, I wouldn't know. For some reason, Katen Kyokotsu never really liked talking to me."

"Minazuki was always very silent. She hardly said anything to me, as well." Unohana agreed quietly.

Jushiro remembered feeling irritated with his friends, but had decided not to press them any further. After all, the only way to really find out was to speak to Sogyo no Kotowari themselves. And he was fairly certain that that wasn't going to happen any time soon. Or, at least, he'd been thinking that this morning. And now, here he was sitting at a table and sipping tea while the twins sat on the other side, eating the candy he'd provided cheerfully and without worries.

It had all happened rather suddenly, and really quite unexpectedly. Jushiro had just been out walking in the streets and thinking about the situation the Shinigami were in, when he'd heard a familiar laughing. Stopping in surprise, he was shocked to see the two simply walking down the street and talking without a care in the world. He had simply stared, speechless, and once they'd spotted him, they'd also stopped. Zanpakuto and wielder hadn't said anything for a full minute, only looking at one another as though the other was a wonder. It was Sogyo who had first spoken, a surprisingly lighthearted tone coming out of his mouth.

"Morning, Juu-chan! Great day today, isn't it?" He called out.

Jushiro was in utter bewilderment. Whether it was the fact that he hadn't seen his zanpakuto in at least four decades and that he was suddenly meeting up with them, or the fact that when they were finally seeing each other again, Sogyo was dealing with it so calmly. And somehow, he had managed to make a small conversation with them and then take them back to his place where he treated them with candy and then made himself some tea. He was still trying to figure out how it had happened, but he decided to still take advantage of this situation.

"Hey, no fair, Sogyo! I wanted that piece."

"Well, I got it first. Fair's fair."

"But you know lemon's my favorite flavor."

"I like lemon too."

"But it's not your favorite!"

A pause.

"You ate it! You're so mean!"

"I am not. I got the piece first, so I get to eat it."

"But I wanted it!"

"But I got it!"

"Juu-chan!" The two turned to him, each one expecting their wielder to back him back.

Jushiro smiled a little, but didn't respond. He was, in truth, mystified on how the twins had left him to attack the Shinigami, but they were still acting exactly the same as when he'd last spoken to them. So far, they hadn't showed any signs of wanting to battle him, which was strange because as far as Renji had told him, Zabimaru had attacked him at first chance. Kazeshini had ruthlessly attacked Hisagi, and Sode no Shirayuki had nearly killed Rukia. But here he was, with his zanpakuto, simply having a little teatime snack.

He took another sip of his tea, and then said, "Sogyo no Kotowari… why are you here?"

The twins paused in their argument and looked at him, their expressions thoroughly confused, as though they'd never quite thought about why they had decided to take a walk in Sereitei and then go back with their wielder.

"Is it to… come back to me? Will you return to me as my zanpakuto?" Jushiro continued.

Now their confusion was cleared up, to be replaced with cheerful smiles once again. Kotowari laughed a little before replying, "No, we're not here to go back to you. We just decided that we wanted to visit you- we thought you might be feeling a little lonely."

By now, Jushiro was more than confused. He had no idea what the two were talking about. Simply a visit? But weren't the zanpakuto supposed to attack their wielders upon sight? Maybe they weren't brainwashed…

"But then why did you leave?" He asked. "Are you upset with me? I haven't been talking to you a lot lately… is it that you hate me now?"

Sogyo grinned, his hands placed casually behind his head. "It's not that we hate you, Juu-chan. We just wanted a little more excitement. And no offence, but you really didn't have that much in your inner world."

"So you just decide to go off and obey Muramasa's every command?" Jushiro demanded. "You sealed Genryuusai-sensei and Ryujin Jakka, and injured Sasakibe-fukutaichou. Are you proud of that? Was that exciting for you?"

The twins looked surprised at his sudden outburst, their grins wiped off their faces. Sogyo put down his hands, blinking in confusion, and then stated, "Well, it was at least something to do."

"And besides, you've never really met Muramasa. He's actually pretty nice when he wants to be, and so are Katen Kyokotsu and Minazuki." Kotowari added.

"Is that your thought about everything? So long as someone's nice to you you'll go along with whatever they want? Don't you feel guilty about what you're doing? Do you know how many Shinigami died the night you all rebelled, and even more are lying injured with the Fourth Division. Don't you at least feel some remorse for them? Or did Muramasa's kindness also rob you of your nobility?" Jushiro knew his voice was loud and his tone was hard, and generally he never did that around young children, but this time he couldn't help it.

He couldn't believe how nonchalant his zanpakuto were being about all this- he'd though he'd raised them better. Sogyo and Kotowari, at first glance, hadn't changed at all, but as they explained their reasoning he was beginning to realize how twisted they'd become. They'd still held onto their playfulness and youth, but somehow they'd also become ignorant and selfish. This was the wrong Muramasa was going to the zanpakuto, and it downright horrified Jushiro.

"What we're doing isn't wrong, Juu-chan," Sogyo said quietly. "Think about it from our point of view. Do you know how many zanpakuto are neglected by their wielders? Muramasa wants to justify them, and we agreed. It's not what we're going that's wrong, you know. It's you guys."

"And if you really think about it, you haven't exactly been treating us as well as you used to," Kotowari pointed out. "I mean, you used to talk to us every day, and we looked forward to your visits. But lately you've kinda been ignoring us, and we don't really appreciate it that much."

Jushiro paused, contemplating their words. It was true that when he'd had time he had visited the two, and he had also looked forward to it, but now he was a captain and he had more responsibilities. Surely they realized that? They couldn't be that oblivious, could they? "It's not as though I didn't want to talk to you two… I just don't have time anymore."

The two nodded, and Sogyo said, "Yeah, we know. You became really busy all of a sudden, and you wouldn't listen to us when we tried to warn you all these things."

"But that's okay," Kotowari quickly added. "We know you want to make your own decisions without your zanpakuto, and we're okay with that. We just wanted some nice people to play with, and talk to, and they'd actually listen. That's why we left."

Jushiro widened his eyes as they spoke. Were they really blaming him for their choice to leave? "… I see. So you did leave because you were upset with me. You two left because you felt that I was neglecting you."

Kotowari shrugged. "I guess if you want to look at it that way, you can. As far as we can see, we wanted someone to play with, and Muramasa's game sounded fun."

"Game?" Jushiro repeated. "You think this is all a game?"

Sogyo spread out his arms. "We're Sogyo no Kotowari. We know we're kids, and we know that there are still some things that we don't understand, but we also know that we're one of the strongest zanpakuto, and one of the very few dual zanpakuto. We're not entirely oblivious. We know what's happening."

"And we also know that we were feeling lonely, and that you wouldn't listen to us anymore. I'll be honest, we haven't been very happy in your world lately. So Muramasa came, and offered us playmates. I don't know how many times we'll have to tell you, Juu-chan, but all in all we're not going back and we're not going to apologize."

Jushiro could hardly believe his ears. His zanpakuto was much more mature than they initially let on. But still… didn't they know how much wrong they were doing? Didn't they know how much pain they were causing?

"We know what we're doing might look wrong to you," Sogyo continued, as though he'd read his wielder's thoughts. "But to us, it's getting revenge. The damage we gave to the Shinigami that night… imagine having to put up with it for decades. The zanpakuto want justice, and that's what Muramasa is giving them."

Jushiro stood up suddenly, his face stone serious. "That's enough. I've had enough of you trying to explain that what you're doing is right. You two have changed, and not just a little. You can leave now."

Kotowari looked slightly worried. "Juu-chan, we-."

"You can leave now," Jushiro repeated sternly.

The twins looked at him with an expression he'd never thought possible to appear on their faces. Pure seriousness was engraved there, and the occasional flicker of hatred would flash briefly, either in a gleam of their green eyes or a twitch of a muscle. Finally, Sogyo nudged his brother. "Come on. Katen's probably freaking by now."

Kotowari nodded, and the two stood up. They turned, but after a moment of thought they turned around again and took the bowl of candy. Kotowari remembered to say a quick thank you, and then, after exchanging a grin with his brother, turned around and ran off, clearly eager to share their prize with their fellow zanpakuto.

As they hurried away, their shouts became fainter and fainter. Kotowari was telling Sogyo that he owed him a lemon candy, and Sogyo was just shrugging it off with a laugh. Jushiro sighed heavily. He didn't understand how his zanpakuto could have changed so much, but at the same time not have changed at all.

He sat down at his desk, rubbing his temple with his fingers. The entire exchange had been so sudden, and so serious. He had gotten answers, more or less. Just not the answers he'd been expecting. Of course, it was fully understandable that the next time they saw each other, they'd be fighting to the possible death. Mayuri had said that it was necessary for the Shinigami to defeat their respective zanpakuto in battle to gain it back. By now, Jushiro was positive that Muramasa had done something to his twins that had drastically changed something in them.

And perhaps, if he won them back, they would change back into the innocent young children he'd grown up with. Jushiro never fought in battle unless he had a purpose, and for this fight, he'd just found one.


End file.
